1. Field of the Invention
The field of the invention is data processing, or, more specifically, methods, systems, and products for displaying memory statistics for a keydrive.
2. Description of Related Art
Keydrives are small removable data storage devices. Other names for keydrives include keychain drive, pen drive, pocket drive, memory stick, thumb drive, jump drive, USB flash drive, USB flash memory drive, USB key, USB memory key, USB stick, and others as will occur to those of skill in the art. Keydrives are typically small, lightweight devices that typically consist of a small printed circuit board encased in robust casing, making the drive sturdy enough to be carried around. Keydrives typically, but not always, use flash memory. Many keydrives also employ a USB connector. In the case of USB keydrives, typically only the USB connector protrudes from the protective casing and often the USB connector is covered by a removable plastic cap.
Conventional keydrives are only active when powered by a connection to a computer, and often require no external power source or battery power when not in use. Such keydrives are run from the limited power supply afforded by the connection such as the USB connection. To access the data stored in a keydrive, the keydrive must be connected to a computer, either by direct connection to a port or hub.
Keydrives are more resilient against scratches and dust and their durable design means they often survive casual insults such as being dropped, crushed or run through a washing machine. The resilient nature of keydrives makes them ideal for transporting personal data or work files from one location to another or for carrying around personal data that a user may want to access in a variety of places.
Keydrives are also a relatively dense form of storage. Keydrive capacity has historically ranged from a few megabytes in size up to a few gigabytes. Most operating systems can read and write to keydrives without any additional device drivers. Instead of exposing the complex technical detail of the underlying flash memory devices, the keydrives export a simple block-structured logical unit to the host operating system. This way the operating system can use whatever type of file system or block addressing scheme it wants.
Conventional keydrives do not provide a vehicle to display statistics describing their current memory usage. To determine the current available memory of a keydrive, the keydrive must be plugged into a device having system tools to determine the current memory usage of the keydrive. The device must also have a display to allow a user to view the memory statistics describing the current memory usage of the keydrive. There is therefore an ongoing need for a methods, systems, and products for displaying memory statistics for keydrives that do not require the keydrive to be plugged into another device.